Kerry and Bush trade blows as war rhetoric escalates

John Kerry accused the Bush administration of raiding state pension funds to pay for its "mistakes" in Iraq yesterday as the campaign rhetoric expended on the "war on terror" continued to grow.

The previous day Vice-President Dick Cheney suggested that Mr Kerry's victory could lead to another terrorist attack on the US, and the row about the Vietnam war was given a new turn by the publication of documents suggesting that George Bush failed to fulfil his obligations as a National Guard pilot.

Mr Kerry was speaking in the very Cincinnati hall that heard the president make his case for going to war in Iraq nearly two years ago.

Addressing a few hundred trade unionists and war veterans in Ohio city's old railway terminal, he accused the president of breaking his pre-invasion promise to go to war only as a last resort and then at the head of a coalition.

"George W Bush made the wrong choices. He himself now admits he miscalculated in Iraq," Mr Kerry said.

"Because of this president's wrong choices, we're spending $200bn in Iraq while we're running up deficits that threaten social security. In fact, they're raiding the social security trust fund to pay for their mistakes in Iraq."

The Bush campaign responded by accusing Mr Kerry of hypocrisy, pointing out that a year ago he had called for more war spending: in August 2003 he told an interviewer that the US should spend "whatever number of billions of dollars it takes to win. It is critical that the United States of America is successful in Iraq".

"Kerry's constantly shifting positions on the war on terror are hurting his credibility with the American people," Steve Schmidt, its spokesman said.

Mr Kerry was aiming to tie the costs of the war with economic dissatisfaction at home.

His campaign has been criticised by other Democrats for focusing too much on security policy, on which the president has his strongest ratings, and not enough on economic problems, where Mr Bush is weakest. Yesterday's speech appeared to represent an attempt to bridge the two strategies.

A new Kerry campaign advertisement broadcast yesterday made similar charges, linking war spending with lost jobs and rising healthcare costs, concluding: "George Bush's wrong choices have weakened us here at home."

It reflected the increasingly shrill tone of the contest less than two months before polling. In his address on Tuesday, Mr Cheney went further than anyone in the administration.

He said: "It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again."

Democrats were outraged. John Edwards, the party's vice-presidential candidate, said it was "un-American", adding: "Dick Cheney's scare tactics crossed the line today."

The attack on Mr Bush's National Guard record responded to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attack on Mr Kerry's Vietnam record.

Advertisements by Texans for Truth questioned whether Mr Bush had turned up for duty in the Air National Guard in Alabama and the Boston Globe published an article which concluded that "Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation".

The Bush campaign rejected the allegation, saying the president "served honourably and was discharged honourably".